Maria Wittek

Early service

Maria Wittek was born and grew up in the Russian partition of Poland. Her father, Stanisław Wittek, a carpenter, was a member of the

From 1928 to 1934 she was the commander of the Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet - an organization training women for military service. In 1935 she was appointed the head of the women's division at the Institute of Physical Education and Military Training in Bielany, near Warsaw.

In World War II

During the

After the war

When the communist government of Poland reopened the Institute of Physical Education and Military Training, she initially returned to her previous position as head of the women's division. However, in 1949 she was arrested by the communist authorities and spent several months in prison. After her release she worked in a newspaper kiosk. She initiated the establishment of the "Commission for the History of Women". After the collapse of communist rule in Poland, President Lech Wałęsa appointed her brigadier general on May 2, 1991. Thus she became the first Polish woman to attain the rank of general. She never married.

On 19 April 2007, the 10th anniversary of her death, a life-size bronze monument of her was unveiled at the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw.

Awards

• Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari, - twice
• Cross of Independence with Swords
  , (Krzyż Niepodległości)
• Cross of Valour (Krzyż Walecznych)
• Warsaw Cross of the Uprising

See also

• Wanda Gertz
• List of Poles
• Halszka Wasilewska (soldier)
• Elżbieta Zawacka

Sources

External links

• Article in Polish newspaper "Rzeczpospolita, May 2, 1997
• Ministry of Defence newsletter April 19 2007 - in Polish
• M. Ney Krwawicz, Women Soldiers of the Polish Home Army
• Monument to General Wittek at Military Museum, Warsaw